INSIDE NL PLAYOFFS.

Smoltz's Focus: Gant, Jordan

October 09, 1996|By Mike Kiley, Tribune Staff Writer.

ATLANTA — John Smoltz knows he needs to stop nine hitters in Wednesday night's National League Championship Series opener. But he admits his focus will be on two St. Louis Cardinals--Ron Gant and Brian Jordan.

Both have connections to Atlanta, where Gant was a Braves outfielder during 1990-93, and Jordan is an ex-Falcon defensive back.

"If there's one guy we can't let beat us, it's Gant, because he's so capable of it," said Smoltz, who'll start against Andy Benes. "No disrespect to anyone else, but those are the two guys I single out as the guys I have to keep down. If the other guys beat you, so be it."

From what he has seen on film, Smoltz is aware both Gant (who has hit just .207 in 24 League Championship Series games, and Jordan currently are sending mistake pitches flying.

"If I make a bad pitch to them," he said, "they won't let me get away with it."

Hat trick? Could Andy Benes start three times if the series goes seven games? Yes, that's why manager Tony La Russa changed his rotation from the division series when he opened with Todd Stottlemyre against San Diego. La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan believe Benes can function on three days' rest and pitch Games 1-4-7.

"Now, if he throws 150 pitches Wednesday night, you can't come back with him that quickly," Duncan said. "And if he has to throw 150 for us to win, he will. But if we are in control of the game, we also could pull him out at some point to save him."

No bull: The Yankees-Orioles have George Steinbrenner and Roberto Alomar, instant controversy for the ALCS, Because there is nothing cooking in the NL series, some people tried to create a war by getting La Russa to respond to Atlanta shortstop Chipper Jones' comment that the Dodgers were the team that worried him most.

No one was taking the bait Tuesday, from Braves manager Bobby Cox to La Russa.

"Completely stupid," Cox said of the theory his team doesn't respect the Cardinals. "You have to respect anyone who gets to the postseason. Just somebody trying to stir it up."

Said La Russa: "That was made out to be a bigger deal than it was. The Braves are the best team I saw in the National League, the most complete team. But it's immaterial what they think of us. We have a lot more assets and abilities than people know."

Hamming it up: Greg Maddux could blow out a hamstring at any time, even Thursday night when he starts Game 2 for Atlanta. It was funny to hear Cox say that so nonchalantly Tuesday.

Maddux brought a bad hamstring from Chicago, Cox noted, when he came to Atlanta from the Cubs in 1993. Not bad enough to give him back as damaged goods, though. He has gone 70-29 with a 2.11 earned-run average as a Brave.

"It's never OK," Cox said of the hamstring aggravation. "But he'll start until he blows it out. There's always that chance."

The unknowns: St. Louis catcher Tom Pagnozzi knows when the nation tunes in to this series, it will have heard a lot about Smoltz, Maddux and Tom Glavine and little, if anything, about Benes, Stottlemyre and Donovan Osborne.

"People have gotten to know the Atlanta pitchers and they have earned the respect," Pagnozzi said. "But, yeah, our guys can be up to the test. I really like our chances with them. In every series, it's the starting pitching that determines it."